Iranians have the chance to vote for a new president in elections next week – and yet many plan to stay away from the polls. In a new survey, Pooyan Tamimi Arab and Ammar Maleki found a startling number plan to abstain. They talk about why, and what this mass abstention might mean – as well as what they’ve found about Iranians views of the Islamic Republic, in the latest episode of our podcast The Conversation Weekly. Listen and
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Half a century after the end of the Biafran war in Nigeria, the wounds and grievances of that turbulent time have resurfaced, as they have done intermittently in the intervening years. This time they provide the backdrop to the tweet sent by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari which was deleted by Twitter, and which sparked off tit-for-tat retaliations between the government and the media platform. Benjamin Maiangwa and Oluchi Ogbu provide the historical context that underpins the ongoing and unresolved tensions around the Biafran question.
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Two men watch Ebrahim Raisi, the conservative frontrunner in Iran’s elections, in a televised presidential debate.
Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
Gemma Ware, The Conversation; Daniel Merino, The Conversation
Plus, why fireflies need dark nights and what you can do about it. Listen to episode 19 of The Conversation Weekly.
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The feeling of desertion by Nigeria’s federal government has not left the region that was defined as Biafra during the country’s civil war.
Stefano Montesi - Corbis/Getty Images
Benjamin Maiangwa, Durham University; Oluchi Gloria Ogbu, University of Manitoba
Until the conditions that led to the Nigeria-Biafra war are resolved, the debate on the viability of one Nigeria will continue to arise.
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Health + Medicine
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Jerry Malayer, Oklahoma State University
Scientists get up close and personal with deadly pathogens to give doctors the tools they need to treat people sickened by germs. The key is keeping the researchers – and everyone around them – safe.
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Gilles van Cutsem, University of Cape Town
The key actions needed to end AIDS are relatively clear. The question is whether every government, funder, and implementing organisations will apply them.
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C. Michael White, University of Connecticut
The FDA approved Alzheimer's disease drug aducanumab despite minimal evidence of its efficacy. Whether this decision ultimately hurts or helps patients depends on data researchers don't yet have.
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Zania Stamataki, University of Birmingham
Scientists have discovered that SARS-CoV-2 can evade neutralising antibodies by fusing cells.
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Business + Economy
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Erin Bass, University of Nebraska Omaha
Wriggling out of paying taxes may be legal, but is it right? Aristotle, Immanuel Kant – and others – have their say.
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Monica de Bolle, Johns Hopkins University
The inefficient vaccine allocation rules currently in place must be replaced by new cooperative institutional structures and more concrete steps by the Group of Twenty (G20) countries.
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Energy + Environment
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George Ferns, Cardiff University; Marcus Gomes, Cardiff University
Rhetoric is hardening, but government policies still honour the special relationship with fossil fuels.
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Deborah Woodcock, Clark University; Herb Meyer, National Park Service
Using remnants of fossilized trees, scientists and an artist figured out what the forest looked like long before humans existed.
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